Reforming of methane with carbon dioxide over cerium oxide promoted nickel nanoparticles deposited on 4-channel hollow fibers by atomic layer deposition

Ni nanoparticles were deposited on four-channel structured alpha-Al2O3 hollow fibers by atomic layer deposition (ALD). CeO2 was loaded by a liquid phase incipient wetness method to promote Ni catalysts for dry reforming of methane. For Ni/Al2O3 prepared by ALD, inactive NiAl2O4 that originated from the Ni ALD process was incompletely reduced. The introduced CeO2 was found to weaken the NiO-Al2O3 interaction, free NiO from NiO-Al2O3 or NiAl2O4, and improve the reducibility of NiO. The higher reducibility of NiAl2O4, tuned by CeO2, further activated the catalyst during DRM, because a larger proportion of NiAl2O4 was gradually reduced to metallic nickel by the reaction products. The optimal catalytic performance reached a methane reforming rate of 2410 L h(-1) gNi(-1) at 850 degrees C. The CeO2 promoted catalyst also exhibited an excellent performance after regeneration. In addition, the inhibition effect of CeO2 on coke formation was observed, due to the enhanced CO2 dissociative adsorption by CeO2.